Sweet Greetings from Haiti, Kenya, and Bolivia

Happy Mail Call Monday- the last one of January!

This week we received five letters, and they all came on the same day! The first one was from Benji in Haiti.

It had been many months since we heard from Benji, so it was so good to hear from him! Benji told me about his schooling and said his favorite classes right now are Creole and "experimental science." I asked him what they do in that class, and it gave me the opportunity to tell him about my cousin and her work in the field of science! He also said that he wants to be a historian when he grows up, which made me very proud. Benji asked me if I like to read the Bible, and said that he hopes we had a very happy Christmas!

Next up was another letter from Festus in Kenya!

How nice to already have heard from some of our Kenyan kids twice in the new year! Festus' letter said much the same as his last letter- he wants to do better in school and he shared some of the challenges that he is facing at home which make concentrating in school a little more difficult. Please join me in praying for Festus and his family- they have nine children, which is a lot of mouths to feed under the best of circumstances, and I believe that being hungry might be having an impact on Festus' learning. He also said they have no books at home, so I am going to be sure to send him some paperback non-fiction books soon so he can practice reading (and learn some extra stuff) when he's at home!)

We also got a letter from Victor in Kenya!

Victor shared a little about the teachers' strike in Kenya (saying that the students are experiencing "grievances") and asked that we pray for the schools to reopen soon. He also had some very kind words to share about the impact that we are having on his life through letters. I love this boy so much and it is my earnest prayer that we are able to meet someday!

Our last Kenya letter from the week came from Celestine!

Celestine must have been in a bit of a hurry- she normally has quite a bit to share, particularly on the subject of theology and what she's doing at church, but we received a form letter about her favorites (which is still very nice to have!) Celestine shared that she enjoys eating ugali and playing handball, and her favorite activity is reading. She loves purple and her best friend is named Anastacia, and she likes dogs! She also said that her favorite character in the Bible is King David. Celestine thanked us for sending her "beautiful" pictures, and requested that we pray for her grandmother, who is sick.

Lastly, we got a surprise letter from William in Bolivia!

I say that William's letter was a surprise because he was not expected to stay on our account as a correspondent for very long! We received William as a correspondent mid-October, but his graduation date was listed as October 1! So I have been writing to him faithfully, with the expectation that he would disappear from my account any day. After getting his letter, I asked about his graduation, and was told that he probably will be in the program for a few more years, but that the Bolivia country staff just might have missed this information on his records! So we are doing an inquiry and hope to hear back soon. William seems like such a friendly young man in his letter; He said he's in good health and he's enjoying studying at college! He shared Psalm 35:27, and asked that we pray for his studies!